‘Lost in Thailand’ Finds Box-Office Record

The low-budget Chinese hit “Lost in Thailand” steamrolled its competition this week to become the highest-grossing mainland film ever and the first local production to break through the one-billion-yuan ($160.4-million) mark at the box office.

Associated Press

A movie theater in Beijing

The 30-million-yuan comedy overtook last year’s “Painted Skin: The Resurrection” – which earned about 726 million yuan — as China’s top-earning movie in the domestic market, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Advertisement

“Lost in Thailand” also sailed past James Cameron’s “Titanic 3D,” which had been 2012’s top-earning film at 935 million yuan, according to Xinhua. “Avatar,” another Cameron blockbuster, still holds the record for the top-grossing movie ever in China at roughly 1.4 billion yuan, Xinhua said.

The 30 million yuan comedy — which was released Dec. 12 and stars Xu Zheng, Wang Baoqiang and Huang Bo — is about a pair of co-workers competing to find their company’s largest shareholder in Thailand to secure a contract approval.

The film’s success has shaken up the landscape of the movie industry in China, where big-budget historical epics and martial-arts and action films often dominate the box office.

Over the past month, “Lost in Thailand” has pushed aside several big-name and big-budget movies, including director Feng Xiaogang’s “Back to 1942,” about the Henan province famine that killed up to three million people; Lu Chuan’s “The Last Supper,” an epic drama set at the beginning of the Han Dynasty; “The Last Tycoon” starring Chow Yun-fat as a gangster in 1930s Japanese-occupied Shanghai; the adventure movie “CZ12” (also known as “Chinese Zodiac 12”), with Jackie Chan trying to rescue stolen Chinese art treasures; and director Andrew Lau’s 3-D action film “The Guillotines.”

The success of “Lost in Thailand” has sparked debate in China over the kinds of entertainment people should be watching: inconsequential lighter fare versus historical dramas. “We need popcorn, but we also need bitter pills,” the People’s Daily said recently on its Sina Weibo microblog.

But the film has received favorable reviews, and others welcomed the triumph of a slapstick comedy amid an environment of heavy dramas.

“The comedy is successful because it is down to earth in giving Chinese audiences what they want: popular stars, funny dialogue, good timing and a reflection of ourselves,” Xinhua quoted Beijing Film Academy President Zhang Huijun as saying. “To some degree, its success has saved the dim domestic film situation,” Mr. Zhang said.

The record comes at a challenging time for China’s movie industry, with more than half the country’s box-office receipts last year going to foreign films. Xinhua, in a separate report on Thursday, cited the Chongqing Economic Times as saying that while China’s total box office stood at roughly 16.8 billion yuan in 2012, just 48% of that — or about eight billion yuan — was for domestic movies. That comes despite the fact that 75% of the 303 films distributed in Chinese cinemas last year were domestic movies, the report said.

“Lost in Thailand” will get some high-profile competition next week with the opening of director Wong Kar-wai’s martial-arts drama “The Grandmaster,” starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Zhang Ziyi.

Expert Insight

New rules on labor negotiations in southern China offer a potential solution to the country's growing problem with labor unrest while at the same time illustrating the difficulty the Communist Party faces in effectively addressing workers’ grievances.

For much of the last half-century, changing China through economic reform seemed to make far better sense than transforming the country through political revolution. Xi Jinping is trying to flip that on its head.

About China Real Time Report

China Real Time Report is a vital resource for an expanding global community trying to keep up with a country changing minute by minute. The site offers quick insight and sharp analysis from the wide network of Dow Jones reporters across Greater China, including Dow Jones Newswires’ specialists and The Wall Street Journal’s award-winning team. It also draws on the insights of commentators close to the hot topic of the day in law, policy, economics and culture. Its editors can be reached at chinarealtime@wsj.com.